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Fiat Accused of Cheating Emissions Tests by German Newspaper

Fiat’s diesel engines are suspected of cheating in the German emissions tests. According to German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Fiat is being investigated by the country’s authorities after test results uncovered an anomaly with the diesel engine of the 500X.
Fiat 500X front grille 1 photo
Photo: Fiat
The report mentioned that the oil-burner generated more nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx) if it was being kept on for longer during an emissions test.

The German paper also stated that automotive supplier Bosch tipped off the authorities regarding the issue. According to the report, the German emissions test takes around 20 minutes, but Fiat is accused of turning off its emission control devices after 22 minutes of operation.

As you can see, the time would be enough to pass an emissions test, but a slightly longer running time would lead to the reported deactivation of some emission control devices.

Fiat was accused of abnormally high nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx) by German environmental lobby group DUH, which claims to have discovered the issue. At the time, Fiat stated that they conducted an internal review on the matter, and they concluded that the systems were compliant with regulations.

As Autoblog points out, this potential cheating scheme is not like Volkswagen’s Dieselgate, as Fiat’s diesel engines did not have a secret code in their ECU to turn on the emission control devices when a particular testing procedure was activated. Instead, the Italian brand is accused of only keeping their emission control devices on for 22 minutes at a time.

The Italian-American corporation has yet to comment on the matter. We expect Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to publish a press release that addresses the cheating accusations in the next few days.

Last week, Mitsubishi was caught manipulating test results in Japan. In the case of the three-diamond brand, the deception was performed by using different air and road resistance parameters on the rolling road test. Mitsubishi admitted fault of the irregularities after it was caught by Nissan, a brand that sold two rebadged versions of their Kei cars.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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